Modern computing devices provide a range of functionality that enables users to interact with the computing devices in many different ways and perform many different tasks. Computing devices can be used for entertainment (e.g., gaming, playing media, etc.), to run utility applications (e.g., word processing applications, database management applications, etc.), for communication (e.g., web browsers, calling applications, etc.), and for other purposes. When a computing device is executing an application for a user, the user experience is typically focused on obtaining visual feedback in the way of an event, data, or other content. However, some applications may run in a background state and not be visible to the user. These are called background applications. Management of background applications has direct implications on use of battery power and processing performance of computing devices. In some situations, computing devices may not allow use of background application in order to save battery power or for other reasons.
However, some applications may be helpful to users and warrant the ability to execute code in the background. Some platforms have taken a very constrained model that puts the onus on manual testing by an administrator to decide which applications are allowed to run in the background. Thus, these platforms decide for the user which applications are allowed to run in the background, and do not solicit user input. For example, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) applications often attempt to maintain a connection to a VoIP server to be able to receive a signal about an incoming phone call. Creating objective criteria that does not fall under scrutiny can be a challenge for administrators. Other platforms have taken the opposite approach and do not decide which applications are allowed to run in the background. This hands-off approach may allow developers to inundate a device with background applications, which may severely impact battery life and processing performance of the computing device.
The reality is that most applications for modern computing devices do not need to run in the background. However, a class of applications exists that often do need some ability to run code in the background. These applications are typically in the real-time communications category such as electronic mail (email), VoIP and instant messaging. The back end servers which power these servers often desire immediate guaranteed delivery of notifications to their clients. Push notifications may be used, but there are no delivery guarantees for the notifications and there is no encryption or privacy. Given the privacy and latency concerns, many customers and application services may prefer to have a direct connection to their servers in the background to notify users when something happens.